Schools Without Soda

I was very happy when I read the stories about a new deal to keep soft drinks out of elementary schools and to limit the size and sugar quantity in drinks sold at schools across the board.

This deal, brokered in part by Bill Clinton, will keep regular sodas out of schools, limit diet sodas to high schools and allow only bottled water, low fat and nonfat milk and 100 percent fruit juice to be sold in elementary schools.

Drink companies agreed to the deal because it keeps at least some of their products in the schools. Regular soft drinks and other products can be sold at extracurricular events like school plays and sporting events.

This is a huge good step toward making our kids healthier. Schools these days seem to be built around making kids overweight, what with the lack of healthy food choices, the abundance of sugar and caffiene and the limitations on physical education or even just recess.

Obviously there’s much more that needs to be done to curb the tide of overweight youth, but I’m glad to see current and former governors of my home state (that would be Arkansas, Bill Clinton and our current governor Mike Huckabee were both involved in the announcement of this deal) have taken such a firm stand in favor of public health.

Parents need to take this a step further and not allow kids to drink things at home that they won’t be able to get at school. If kids aren’t caffienated and overly sugared at home or at school, I think the state of health in this country will improve dramtically. If parents would also make their kids go outside and play, so much the better.